IELTS Academic Writing Task 1 Practice Test

Paraphrasing the prompt in the introduction shows you understand what the task is asking you to describe and lets you start with your own wording. The idea is to restate the same meaning using different nouns, verbs, and sentence structure, so you introduce the topic and, if given, the time period without repeating the exact wording. This demonstrates flexibility with vocabulary and grammar and keeps the introduction neutral and focused on what the chart or diagram covers.

Copying the prompt exactly wouldn’t display your language skills and can make the opening feel mechanical. Personal opinions don’t belong in the introduction, and trying to summarize the entire text there goes beyond what’s appropriate for the opening. For example, if the prompt says the chart shows household internet access in three countries from 2010 to 2020, you could paraphrase as: The chart presents data on household internet access across three countries over the decade 2010–2020.